COVID-19 impact | As stranded Indians prepare to get back home, some worry about travel bill & tests

Even as thousands of Indians prepare in anticipation of their return to India, they are also nervous about tests they have to undergo, and the travel bill that they will have to foot.

Nearly two lakh Indians, stuck since the lockdown was announced in March, in nearly a dozen countries have registered to get back to India. The Indian government had said the process will begin from May 7 and travel will be arranged by aircraft and naval ships. The returns will be facilitated on "compelling grounds" in a phased manner.

Indian embassies are preparing a list of citizens, but the "facility would be made available on  payment-basis." Each passenger will also be required to do a medical screening to check for COVID-19 infection, the government said.

Moneycontrol reached out to Indians stuck in the US, Singapore, Riyadh and on the seas off the US coast. All of them said they have registered with their local consulates and were awaiting further instructions.

"We have been told to do swab tests. As per the captain, all crew found negative shall be transferred to another ship which is currently at anchor beside us," said an Indian crew member of a cruise ship stuck off the Bahamas coast.

He and rest of the 700 crew, most of them Indians, have been stuck for 24 days.

The crew member added that the cruise liner he works for has informed them that a US-based laboratory will conduct the test, which will take about six days to share the results. "We have been told that the tests will come after May 11, and then the paperwork for travel will be readied," added the crew member.

Meanwhile, the ship will be sanitised.

An Indian crew member of another cruise liner, this time off the Miami coast, said he and his colleagues are worried about the travel costs.

"The Indian government has made it clear that this will include a charge. Our company has been told that it will have to pay over Rs 50,000 per person. But the company is not agreeing to it," said the crew member.

In all, he added, there are 2,000 Indians in the company and thus the owner can't pay for all. "We may have to pay it ourselves," he added.

Waiting for instructions 

Many are awaiting flight information, and clarity on how the booking will be done.

Sathish* has been waiting for the flight back home since March, when he got stranded in Florida.

"I have been asked to keep in touch with the consulate in Atlanta...am not sure about joining the rush immediately. It can be dangerous if I have to travel to another city to catch the flight back to India," he said.

Debashish Biswas, whose daughter studies in Singapore, said she has registered both with the Haryana government's portal (they reside in Gurugram) and with the Indian High Commission in the South East Asian country. "We are waiting for more information," he said.